Dec. 4, 1904, the Joseph Howe statue, on the South End grounds of Province House, was unveiled by Sir Charles Parsons. It was designed by Quebec sculptor Louis-Phillippe Hébert (1850–1917). Sir Charles Parsons was considered one of the greatest British engineers of his age (1854–1931). He had established the Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in 1897 and held more than 300 patents. Joseph Howe had begun publishing the Novascotian on Jan. 3, 1828, at the age of 24. A month later he married Catherine Susan Ann McNab. By 1836 he would run for provincial office and go on to live an extraordinary life of spirited debate and engagement on everything from public education to a vision of the railway expanding across the continent of British North America, to stating his resistance, then later his support, for Nova Scotia to join Confederation. J. Murray Beck summarizes that; “. . . perhaps Howe would like best to be remembered for his efforts to rescue his compatriots from the parochialism which besets a small community.” (Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography: Howe, Joseph. 1804-1873).

Dec. 5, 1884, the SS Newcastle sailed from Halifax to Britain with a large cargo of Annapolis Valley apples. This was in the middle of the apple boom (1849–1933).

Dec. 6, 1917, The Halifax Explosion occurred, resulting from a collision between the SS Mont-Blanc, carrying highly flammable and explosive materials, and the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in Halifax Harbour. The Explosion devastated the Tufts Cove and Turtle Grove areas in Dartmouth, and the Richmond and North End districts of Halifax. Two thousand people were killed, 9,000 were injured and 20,000 were left homeless. Halifax’s population at that time was 55,000.

Dec. 7, 2001, themockumentary television series Trailer Park Boys premiered on Showcase. Directed by Mike Clattenburg, the series follows the shady exploits of Ricky (Robb Wells), Julian (John Paul Tremblay) and Bubbles (Mike Smith). The series ran on Showcase till 2007 and was later revived on Netflix. In November 2016, it was announced that the Canadian licensed producer of medical cannabis, OrganiGram, based in Moncton, N.B., had officially partnered with TPS productions, a company owned by none other than Wells, Tremblay and Smith, to create their very own weed brand.

Dec. 8, 1948, The Maritime Museum of Canada was established in Halifax. Initially located at the HMC Dockyard (and later renamed the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic), it moved through several locations before its own building was constructed in 1981 as part of the Halifax waterfront redevelopment program. In 1982, the museum received the CSS Acadia. It is considered the oldest and largest maritime museum in Canada.

Dec. 9, 1755, The first post office was established in Halifax (the first in what would later become Canada).

Dec. 10, 2008, Sambro resident and playwright Catherine Banks won a Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language drama for her play Bone Cage. She won a second award in 2012 for It is Solved by Walking. She was born in Middleton and graduated from Acadia University. She has remarked that “. . . it really wasn’t until I saw Michel Tremblay’s Les Belles Soeurs that I understood that I had something to write about. . . . Tremblay characters were so grounded in real life that I understood that I had lots to write. I have said many times that the first time I sat down and wrote dialogue, I felt I had come home.” Her other plays include Three Storey, Ocean View, Bitter Rose and Miss’n Me.

Leo J. Deveau, is an independent librarian, researcher and author of the recent book, 400 Years in 365 Days — A Day by Day Calendar of Nova Scotia History (Formac, 2017)